


Glasses

by QuartzFox



Category: Rune Factory 4
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Glasses, Humor, Innuendo, may contain puns, relevations about ears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-21
Updated: 2016-06-21
Packaged: 2018-07-16 11:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7266544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuartzFox/pseuds/QuartzFox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leon is working with Arthur on yet more translations.  Unfortunately, his diligence is not without its price.  Fortunately, Arthur has a solution!  (Random Event following The Power of Words.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Glasses

Leon closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples. He’d been doing so more and more often, Arthur had noticed.

“Are you all right?” he asked, quiet concern clear in his tone.

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little headache.” Leon’s smile was more of a pained grimace.

“Try them,” Arthur said without moving.

“I am not going to indulge your little fantasies,” Leon said, just a little tersely. “You know my feelings on that.”

“Believe it or not, Leon, not all my collection is for my own entertainment. Remember that I do need to wear glasses in order to see at all; does it not make sense for me to maintain at least a few pairs of genuine reading glasses?”

Leon merely huffed. “Just remember, I’m a happily married man,” he said, eyes still closed as he massaged his forehead.

“As though you ever let me forget,” Arthur said, his tone teasing.

“Sorry,” Leon said with genuine contrition.

“Don’t be silly. I know your intention is anything but malicious. You won her heart. You deserve to be happy. You also deserve not to have a headache every night after working. I’m certain that Miss Frey has better things to do than nurse away your pain,” Arthur replied without rancor. “Especially when it might be alleviated with such a simple thing.”

This time they were working in Arthur’s office, so the prince didn’t have to go far; in a matter of moments he had arisen from his desk, selected no less than nine pairs of glasses, and presented them to Leon with a careful flourish.

An arched eyebrow was Leon’s eloquent response. Arthur shrugged and smiled. “Well, I want to be sure that they’re comfortable for you as well as flattering. They are all different prescriptions, so try them all and see what’s most helpful.”

Leon sighed. “I should make you look away,” he grumbled, but he was smiling slightly as he slid the first pair of frames on over his face. As he did, Arthur gasped. “Hm? What’s wrong?” The frames settled into place as he looked at his friend.

“Your… Your ears?” Arthur now looked very perplexed. “Glasses should fit over your ears, but clearly yours are… well…” He stumbled to a halt; clearly the glasses, which Leon was wearing normally, were not sliding off.

“Ah, yes. That.” Leon’s smile turned rueful. “Well, it seems that the spell binding my body to Sarcophagus’ form wasn’t quite perfected, so while Dylas only has one set of ears, I have two… And to answer your next question, no, I don’t hear particularly better than anyone else, though I am quite good at pinpointing the source of a sound.” He wandered over to a mirror, lifting the hair on one side of his head so Arthur could see one finely shaped, shell-pink, entirely human ear, normally concealed beneath the thick tufts of fur-hair beneath his canid ears.

“Huh,” was all Arthur said.

“Let’s keep this our little secret though, all right? Obviously, Frey knows, but I don’t think the rest of town needs to. I think they already find me strange enough sometimes.” Leon studied his reflection carefully, switching off for the next pair. Only then did Arthur notice that he’d brought the page he was translating over to the mirror to test how well they were working for him.

”Of course,” he said almost automatically. He understood too well the need to keep some things to oneself, after all… As his mind wrapped around the idea of Leon having four ears (which really changed nothing, of course, except now he knew about it!) he allowed himself to get distracted by the sheer pleasure of the sight of Leon in glasses.

“So, what do you think?” the taller man asked after trying on the fifth pair. Thin silver frames, ornamented only by a fine line of black around the edge of each lens, they were understated and dapper all at once.

Arthur’s face warmed as the door opened.

“Hi Arthur! Dylas asked me to bring over your dinner, since I was headed this way. Oh, hi Darli…n…g?” Frey’s voice, bright and cheery as ever as she walked in, trailed off in surprise as she greeted her husband, who had struck a pose in order to tease Arthur.

“Hi, Love. What do you think?” He turned his head from side to side, then lowered the frames and winked at Frey over them.

Suddenly Arthur’s face wasn’t the only one reddening.

“Oh… They’re… very nice. I didn’t know you wore glasses,” she said, looking suddenly uncertain as she glanced at Arthur.

But her initial reaction hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Only for reading, so it seems… And I suppose I shall have to start reading in bed now, too?”

Frey’s cheeks darkened further, but she grinned. “Oh, I certainly couldn’t stop you, could I?” Remembering why she’d come, she handed Arthur the plate of rice balls. “But we can talk about that later,” she said, tossing him a wink. “I’ll just leave you two alone for now.” With a merry flounce, she was gone.

“Sorry,” Leon said, utterly unrepentant. “I guess I’ve been rubbing off on her.”

“Erm.” Arthur said, blushing more.

Leon simply laughed.


End file.
